Any word on when we will get an Auction House?

[Chezen]

So quantumsaint, I have a question (and to anyone else who wishes to answer). You have a group of people who want immersion and interactive gameplay, and a group that just wants to do what they need to do and go. What do you do to turn the economy into an experience that lets those bypass it who want to, but others get fully involved with it?

My personal thoughts (not a programer here) and some ideas I've previously seen:

1. Let people buy from the search list. That would solve a lot of issues right there. Why make an AH when you can do that?

2. Remake the look of the wards so they are more appealing. Circular with fountains might be nice. Get some light in there.

3. I had my own ideas on what the retainer levels could be, but in any case, make a reason to come to the wards besides buying that is completely optional, but appealing. I'd like to see the market become a mini game of sorts.

4. Revamp the retainer menus so they are less painful. We really shouldn't have use two different menus to store items/use bazaar.

5. Make an option to warp directly to your retainer if you have one set up to sell. This would cut down on time for sellers.

I realize that none of these ideas account for the real problem, space. With entire maps filled with avatars and personal data, I'm not sure why this has been an issue. Like I said, I'm not a programmer. Anyway, they're just ideas. I've no doubt SE will address this fully when they get to it. They might have an entirely different direction in mind that a lot of us might even like.

[Kiote]

The Max capacity problem can easily be fixed by having a time limit on how long a retainer will stay in the ward, same as any AH would. I with Chezen 100% of the way with the exception of one point..

You can't get the browsing you get in the MWs in an AH. The MW forces you to randomly encounter new and different items. Thing you never would have thought to search or didn't even know were in the game. AHs take that entirely out of the game. No more random finds.

I also don't think making an AH would be remotely worth the time. The effort that would be needed to port the current systems to a new format could be used to implement the features people want into the MWs and get them in game two or three times as fast. Literally the only feature an AH offers over the MWs is that you don't have to go inside.

I for one don't believe running to my mailbox is better than walking to the person selling the item. Although I do want a mail box..

[Dreamer]

The overcrowding would probably fix itself if they would make it so that the leves and content were more balanced between the three cities.

[Amage]

A AH would make it so noobs wont under cut you item by 100s and 1000s dollars and stuff and also build a better economy

[quantumsaint]

@ Chezen (instead of quoting your whole post)

I would like very much to be able to buy items directly from the item search. I don't care if it has a 5% or 10% markup (it's not like gil matters much). Honestly, I NPC'd everything from my retainers (and I'll agree on your previous name point, I'm fond of my retainers Daphne and Ophelia, even though they're next-to-worthless at the moment) and never go into the MW anymore if I can help it. I liked shopping in FFXI, but I can't stand it in FFXIV, so obviously there is a disconnect there. Maybe it's part of the larger issue of stats not mattering as much as they should, or gear rank not being set in stone as it was in FFXI, but something somewhere needs to be fixed.

What I'd like to see once Ishgard opens up is a -wait for it- auction house. But not in the FFXI sense of the word. More like the FFIX auction house in Treno. I think the MW can be re-worked to function as the primary shopping interface, but I still would like to see an actual auction house, where players can list items and other players can bid on them real time, using paddles or whatnot. The primary use of this auction house though wouldn't be for common items and gear, but for the endgame rare stuff that players will be looking to sell.

So there you go, quick and dirty MW window for common stuff, immersive AH bidding wars for the rare stuff.

[Chezen]

Completely real AH huh? That would be interesting. Might be tough to find a good time when as many players as possible would be on, but it could get really interesting watching bidding wars.

An idea someone mentioned in the player housing thread, was being able to buy from your house. Although I would miss some of the immersion of the MW should they scrap them and go with this idea, I would still get the quiet peaceful feeling I get in the wards, and I could craft there easily as well. Might be an idea worth exploring.

[Seif]

Honestly I don't care if the wards were filled with rainbows and fountains the moment I'm forced to warp in there and search for a seller without price histories is the part where it has already failed the most.

I don't enjoy looking at a character 3d model nanoseconds before I manage to open the shop menu because the fact that it even exists is the reason I had to wait for it to load.

Honestly if they add an AH like Yoshida hinted and what players voted for in a massive scale the wards would die within weeks.

You few ward enthusiasts know this otherwise you wouldn't be against the idea of them both existing in the game.
Also you KNOW people would prefer it because it's more handy so why do you keep on lying to yourselves? It's sad and the thought of you ward-zoning for minutes while trying to find cheap mats with a forced grin on your face is a bit creepy to be honest.

[Crawlerbasher]

The market ward sucks....
Or at lest it use to.

Now with the new fetures and search of the market ward.
It has become a lot easyer to find what you need and the common selling price.
Which makes it easyer for me to sell and buy stuff from the market ward.

So why do we need an auction house when the market ward works.

[Sephr]

The market ward sucks....
Or at lest it use to.

Now with the new fetures and search of the market ward.
It has become a lot easyer to find what you need and the common selling price.
Which makes it easyer for me to sell and buy stuff from the market ward.

So why do we need an auction house when the market ward works.

Horse and cart worked, why did we need cars? Because the horse and cart was no fun, and took much more time to get to the good stuff.

[Rinsui]

I also don't think making an AH would be remotely worth the time. The effort that would be needed to port the current systems to a new format could be used to implement the features people want into the MWs and get them in game two or three times as fast. Literally the only feature an AH offers over the MWs is that you don't have to go inside.

Strange logic. They wasted weeks and months of development time just to fix all the bugs and shortcomings of wards already. Time to pull the plug.